FRISCO, Texas – Three weeks from now is the NFL's trade deadline, an area that the Dallas Cowboys have been very familiar with and active in during recent years.
From trading a first-round pick to the Raiders for Amari Cooper in 2018 to acquiring Jonathan Mingo for a fourth-round pick last year, Dallas has made six trades in-season in the weeks leading up to the deadline over the last seven years. Could 2025 bring the seventh in eight years?
"We have thought all along that if we see a way to improve this year with a trade at the deadline, then we'll take advantage of it," Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said following a press conference about the upcoming 101st East-West Shrine Bowl. "That's what we positioned for to start this year, was to have ammunition to do things if we have an opportunity."
That's not anything new from Jones, who has said several times during the last few weeks that the Cowboys are open for business if the right deal comes across the table. That said, nothing is in the works at present.
"I don't have a trade in mind right now, at all," Jones said. "That comes about right now if someone is on the phone calling."
If the Cowboys were to make a transaction before the deadline, it's highly likely that they would look to acquire a player that could help their defense, which currently ranks last in the NFL in yards allowed per game. Jones added that if the Cowboys were to look in that direction, it would be a move that looks not just at the 2025 season, but beyond too.
"If there is a trade that would help the defense, we're in position to make that trade…" Jones reiterated. "[It] doesn't mean we're going to make one, but we certainly had in mind when we started this season that we were going to have ammo to be more flexible in terms of what we do with the roster as we move along this year, and of course as we get into the next couple of years."
The additional "ammo" that Jones mentioned includes the two first-round picks that the Cowboys acquired from the Green Bay Packers in the Micah Parsons trade, as well as the player Dallas got in the deal too with defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
Jones noted multiple times that that the Cowboys are only paying $2 million of Clark's roughly $20 million per year salary, which gives them the flexibility in their cap room to make moves that potentially couldn't have been made before.
One of the other points of emphasis that Jones and the organization have brought up in recent weeks is that "help is on the way" with some injured players being able to return, like linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and rookie cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. What makes the decision to look for a trade more difficult is not knowing the kind of impact either of those players will have on the defense, and if it's enough to be worth not giving up valuable capital in the future.
"It does add to try to speculate on how Overshown is going to impact this defense is speculation at best. Same thing with Revel…" Jones said. "That's the part of the nuances that you have to work through. We will weigh what are the likelihood of the players that we've got coming back, how they will impact where that'll put this team, as opposed if we should add a player in a trade."
Speaking of the return of Overshown, Brian Schottenheimer said yesterday that the Cowboys would be looking to open his 21-day practice window sometime “in the next week or so," and Jones gave an update on when he could retake the field.
"I'd be looking at after the bye." Jones said.
